32nd Annual Dr. Ramanadham Memorial Meeting organised by Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR)

A Very Curious State: The UID: Welfare, Surveillance, Privacy and Democratic Rights

Speakers:

Usha Ramanathan (Legal Researcher)

Reetika Khera (Economist)

In January 2009, the UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India) was created with the objective to issue Unique Identification numbers (UID), named as “Aadhaar” to all residents of India. In 2016 it was established as a statutory authority under the provisions of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 (“Aadhaar Act 2016”). The Authority claims to have issued more than 111 core Aadhaar numbers till now. Supposed to be based on ‘voluntary’ enrolment meant to promote social welfare, it has become the largest biometric database in the world and the first online biometric-based identity system. Serious concerns, however, have been expressed, about the threat that UID poses – of exclusion, surveillance, profiling and invasion of privacy among others. Notwithstanding the apprehensions and objections raised, the state and its institutions have been consistently pushing towards making Aadhaar, mandatory. Absence of an Aadhaar number is becoming the basis of exclusions. Against this background, PUDR organised this event to discuss the implications of the Unique Identification (UID) project for democratic rights.

Date: 16th September, Saturday

Time: 4 pm

Venue: Urdu Ghar (2nd Floor), 210, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, New Delhi (nearest metro: ITO)

See a news report on the event: UID is a bad policy, fails constitutional tests http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/uid-is-a-bad-policy-fails-constitutional-tests/article19700873.ece

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